Thyroid surgery due soon

[BaileyHorse]

I am listed for surgery next month for partial removal of thyroid due to a thyroid cyst that when aspirated recently has come back with some abnormal cells. Have had the cyst itself for years and it’s quite a lump in my neck (the cyst they think is about 3-4cm) and honestly I hate it so am glad it’s being removed in one sense, but also now nervous for op the closer it gets!

Just wondered how people have found the op? Looking on here at previous posts I had read that some have had a drain but know I def won’t have one.

How is life post op with less thyroid? Have you had to take the additional drugs in most cases or have bloods shown ok so far? And have you noticed any other impact on you (e.g. weight gain?)?

Am due to be off work for 2 weeks and have sorted school drop offs and dog walking for the first week, do we think that’ll be ok?

Any intel / advice would be much appreciated! I am a planner/like to be organised so trying to prep myself…thanks so much all x

I've just had hemithyroidectomy so I can't comment on how much time off you need, but I've found that having some soluble or liquid painkillers is really helpful. My throat is a bit sore and swallowing has been a bit painful. I stocked up on soluble paracetamol and childrens liquid ibuprofen (you'll have to work out how much you need for the adult dose) so I haven't had to worry about struggling to swallow tablets. Cold drinks have helped, and food like well soaked breakfast cereal and porridge that isn't too hot have been eatable in the early stages post-op.

Something that they didn't really warn me about is the phlegm you get afterwards, so you might be coughing a bit. Mine hasn't been too bad but it's worth knowing about.

I had a drain in, which made a mess when it came out but wasn't painful. I was glad I'd decided to stay in the hospital gown until after they'd removed it!

I'm now 3.5 weeks post op and mostly feeling back to normal.

The first few days it was painful to swallow but that and the phlegm wore off by the end of the first week, but I was still pretty tired. Week two I was able to eat normally and just felt a bit tired and headachey, and got lightheaded if I did too much. By the start of week 3 I was able to do more before I got tired. The information leaflet I got from my hospital said 3-4 weeks off work was needed for most people and I wouldn't have been able to do a full day, let alone a full week at work after 2 weeks, but see how you feel. My nodule was quite big and going down into my chest, so if yours is a bit smaller you might be fine after 2 weeks.

Thank you so much for your comment. I am glad you are feeling on the mend now.

I was told 2 weeks off but will def see how I feel and take it from there. Am dreading it but just want it over with now!

Sorry also just realised this was you also! Very helpful information so thanks again.

mine is 3-4cm they think and I have a visible lump in my neck (although people have since said they can’t see it I definitely can - I even had one person message privately from school to say they noticed it and didn’t want to worry me!). Sounds like yours was pretty big if it went down to your chest.

I am 5 weeks post hemithyroidectomy. My op was carried out because the biopsy was inconclusive and the consultant said it was a 15 to 30% chance of being cancer.
The surgery went OK. My drain was in for 3 days so I had 2 nights in hospital. The dressings stayed on for a week. The stitches mostly dissolved except one, which I pulled out myself after 10 days. It has healed well. I am massaging silicone scar gel on it twice a day which I think is helping.
As someone else mentioned, a lot of mucous is present which needs to be coughed up. I am retired but think that if I was working I would probably have been ready to go back to work after two weeks. Swallowing food has been OK. But I need to be sitting completely upright when swallowing liquids, otherwise some goes down my trachea. That is improving now though.
I had my follow up appointment last Monday, 4 weeks after the surgery. Thankfully the lump was benign. I have been referred for speech therapy as my speech has been affected. One of my vocal chords is not working properly, apparently. I cannot speak for long before my voice stops working; and cannot be heard properly on the phone. I don't know how long the waiting list is for speech therapy so I found some speech exercises online specifically for this problem and believe they are helping. Unfortunately when I had my follow up appointment I forgot to ask when I would be tested to find out whether I will need medication going forward due to having half a thyroid. They have said I will be having another appointment though so think I will just wait for that as I feel OK at present.

I had half my thyroid removed 3 years ago due to very similar circumstances @BaileyHorse

I stayed in hospital for one night and had a drain in. This was removed next morning. It was very sore for a good few days (both the operation site and the throat). It is important to remember that you are having an op on a tender part of your body that you use all the time. You will need lots of rest, sleeping positions may be tricky and eating soft food for a few days will help. I had porridge, rice pudding, yoghurts etc.

After about 4/5 days I was feeling more comfortable but still quite tired. I took 2 weeks off work which was fine for me as I work from home part time. I am self employed so no sick pay.

If your work is more demanding, 2 weeks might be a bit ambitious. Do not rush back to work. My understanding is that 2 weeks is the absolute minimum time off work and most people take 3-4 weeks depending on the nature of their work. The op may be fairly quick but it is on an important part of your body and you must give yourself time to heal.

The wound itself healed well. It can look a bit scary at first because of where it is. But my scar is barely visible now. Bio oil helped loads.

I haven’t needed any meds and blood tests have all been good. I’m glad I did it because it has removed the worry of “what if this gets worse and I’m one of the unlucky ones?” My lump was also visible and made me feel self conscious so that was definitely a good reason to get it removed.

Oh and I had forgotten about the phlegm! That can be quite painful to bring up. I remember holding my throat a lot to ease the pain.

Hi and thanks so much for your post. I’m glad you are on the mend.

this is all really useful information. I do have a pretty busy/stressful job so it may be that I need to take longer off but will take it as it comes. Just want it done now. Less than 2 weeks to wait so hopefully it’ll all be over soon

Sorry follow up question 🙈 did you lose your voice at all?

I had a partial thyroidectomy in April 2024. Due to a very large substernal nodule (10cm). It had gone under my collarbone into my chest but was virtually unseen as it was on the back of my thyroid and inside the neck as such. It was causing pretty severe breathing problems amongst other things. Mine was thankfully benign.

I was quite sore after the operation, and very congested for the first few days as PP have mentioned. Think this is normal due to the anaesthetic or something. I didn’t have a drain. I was able to eat mostly ok straight after. I’ve been left with half a thyroid which is coping ok without medication. Recovery was fairly long but I’ve ended up with a permanently damaged laryngeal nerve, but think that was due to the size and location of the nodule. My voice was already impacted before the operation due to the growth pressing on that area. My voice even now is quite a bit weaker, but manageable and I still have a lot of numbness in my throat/neck area but I’ve been told permanent damage like this is rare. I also have hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome which may have made the damage more likely as it’s a connective tissue disorder. So I have turned down further nerve grafting surgery to try and repair it, the risks outweigh the benefits and with hEDS I take longer to heal etc. I did have speech therapy and an injection into my left vocal cord afterwards, but speech therapy was of limited benefit and the injection was horrible and I refused a second one. However I’m still hugely relieved it’s out and I can now breathe!! Good luck.

No, I was worried about that as verbal communication is vital in my work. But all was fine.

Naturally, the first 4-6 weeks I was quite careful as I wanted the whole area to heal well. I do remember my voice getting a bit tired and creaky if I had a day of lots of talking.

Overall, my voice is probably stronger now than before I had the op.

Wow that sounds horrendous for you! So glad it ended up being benign for you at least.

Thank you for all the info, am feeling very prepared for the op on Friday. Just want to get it done now

I had a hemithyroidectomy in July this year for a suspicious nodule (turned out to be unusual but benign!) and I was pretty much back to normal after about 3 weeks in terms of walking dog and doing stuff at home. I didn’t really do any work for about 5 weeks however I’m self employed and do very part time hours so it was relatively easy.
It was very uncomfy and I had a lot of soreness in my shoulders for a while but not massively painful. I slept semi upright with a V pillow for a few weeks which was a godsend! Soft foods and lots of fluids to start too. I was also incredibly emotional for the first month which I’ve not experienced with surgery before.

I have ended up on thyroxine however I was really unwell with thyroiditis earlier this year (my second bout of it) which also increases the risk of ending up underactive. The drugs are doing their job though and I’m feeling much more myself the last few weeks

And I definitely agree about the phlegm!! Just hold your neck when you cough

Good luck xx

Also, I had no effects to my talking voice but I couldn’t shout for ages - my teens were delighted 😂

To be honest, the operation was fine, it’s just been the permanent nerve damage which has caused issues afterwards and as I said, this is rare, and probably due to the location/size of the lump combined with my hEDS.

Just make sure you rest, it is a tender/sensitive area being in your neck and obviously it’s an area we move and stretch a lot in everyday movement. I propped myself up on pillows (V pillow) to sleep at night, the first few nights can be sore, but you soon feel better. As a PP said, you can end up with sore shoulder/neck pain for a while due to the surgery and how you’re positioned I think. x

Yes am fully prepared for rest for at least 2 weeks, more if I need it. Make the most of not having to do housework etc! x

Funnily enough the first thing I said when the dr said that I could lose my voice temporarily was that my husband and kids would be thrilled… 😂 she said everyone says that ha ha!

I’m an unsociable soul who hates large parties or big social gatherings so my damaged voice has given me the perfect excuse to avoid things like this now! 😂

Sorry me again! Had my op on Friday so today is day 3 post op. I changed my dressing over the wound site and was really disappointed to see that from what I could see there is still a lump in my neck. My mum said that it’s still early days and still all swollen but am feeling a bit crappy that after all this that I will still have a really visible lump 😭 just wanted to ask if yours was the same as I think you had removal under similar circumstances in that yours was also quite visible? Looking for some reassurance I guess! Thanks x

Glad your op is done OP, I know you didn’t ask me directly but I had a big lump for almost 3 weeks post surgery (much bigger than I’d had pre surgery), it then went down a lot quite quickly but I would say the residual swelling took 8/10 weeks to fully go. It’s such a delicate area to have surgery in it does take time to all calm down. I’m now 4 months and you can barely even see the scar

Oh thank you so much for this comment. It’s very reassuring and I really appreciate it. I think it was just a shock to see it today along with the scar and bruising etc. am just feeling rather emotional about it all today i think 🥺

So glad to hear yours is much better now and that’s amazing that the scar is barely visible too! xx

Hi @BaileyHorseCongratulations on have the op!!

Yes, I do remember that my neck and throat was all quite swollen for a good few days. I also remember not being too impressed when the dressings first came off. I looked worse than before the op. But the swelling did go down after about a week or so.

Take it easy. Keep moving about when you feel up to it but rest when you need. Gentle movements of the neck area.

In fact, thinking back, the swelling did last a bit longer than that because I remember being a bit self conscious of it on my birthday - which was exactly 3 weeks after the op.

Thanks for replying and good to know I’m just being over sensitive about it looking worse than before! I think I need to remember I am only 4 days post op 🙈 and that things will be better.

I had quite bad swelling for some time after a total removal, I was quite concerned it actually looked like they had tried to hack my head off! But a year later no one would ever know I had had it done I think swelling went down fully within a couple of weeks and then the scar has gradually faded since then